Final offers are being prepared for the purchase of English club Chelsea, European champions, and new figures have been added to the consortia as the process to end the ownership of sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich intensifies.
Four known offers are still under consideration to buy Chelsea, which could be sold for three billion pounds (C$4.93 billion) given the interest that has arisen since Abramovich put the West London Premier League club six weeks ago.
Steve Pagliuca, co-owner of the NBA’s Boston Celtics, made public on Tuesday his intention to own a Premier League team for the first time, which could require him to give up his 55% majority stake. in the Serie A team Atalanta.
The American cannot control two clubs playing in the same European competition organized by UEFA, although Atalanta are not in contention for next season’s qualifiers.
“Later this week we will submit a substantial and credible offer,” Pagliuca said in a statement. One that we believe will meet the respective requirements and regulations of the Premier League, UK Government and UEFA – and we are committed to honoring our commitment to the credibility and good stewardship of Chelsea Football Club from day one . »
Bundles
Another offer, from Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts, has come under fire due to Islamophobic comments from his father, Joe, that appeared in leaked emails three years ago. The Ricketts family have been scrambling to distance themselves from the patriarch, and another business leader was announced as a new figurehead involved in the bid on Tuesday.
Karan Bilimoria, a Chelsea supporter who founded the Cobra beer company in west London in 1989 and sits in the House of Lords, will become club manager if the Ricketts’ bid is successful and serve as an ambassador.
A competing bid features an existing US investor in a Premier League team: Josh Harris has a 17% stake in south London club Crystal Palace. Harris, who also owns the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, is part of a consortium led by former Liverpool and British Airways chairman Martin Broughton and International Athletics Federation president Sebastian Coe.
A fourth consortium includes Todd Boehly, co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss and Jonathan Goldstein, a London-based property investor and CEO of Cain International.
Abramovich was forced to sell Chelsea after being sanctioned in Britain and his assets frozen as part of a crackdown on oligarchs following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.